At Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, Pa - We have 4 half way houses ( state & private run ) within a couple of miles from us - with high turn over rates of them eventually returning to their original homes - we supply them with low cost sustainable transportation that does not need a license to operate - we price most 20 year old 10 speed roadies and rusty Huffy MTB's at $20 - we tell them that they pay themselves $10 an hour for two hours to fix their own bike and then they can use it to go get a job ( requirement of being in a half way house ) - then they usually come back to volunteer with the rest of our mission.
Better bikes are earned with more appropriate times when they graduate ( get out of prison ) - but for low end bikes - this has been a great way to recycle low end bikes.
Ross Willard 717-571-2008
----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Morrison To: The Think Tank Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 1:17 PM Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Assessing Value of Donated Bikes
This is very relative to the value of used bikes in your area. I choke when I see how much used bikes cost in San Fran or NYC -- then again I choke when I see what ANYTHING costs in those places. That being said...
In Utah we allow people to volunteer at a rate of $5 per volunteer hour for used stuff. They have to pay [at least] the wholesale cost on new things, aka things we have to buy from a distributor. That way we cover our costs. All hours are recorded on a web based system http://volunteer.slcbikecollective.org/ and people literally cash in their ours via the "work trade" link.
As for establishing the value of each bike, we look at what they go for on ksl.com (local craigslist) and price them lower, but not so low that bike-flippers have a margin incentive to buy and flip our bikes. We also don't under sell (or allow volunteer trade) for the really nice parts through the shop, we ebay those, and use that as a form of income. Occasionally we will hook up an exceptional volunteer with nicer stuff, let me emphasis exceptional. If a frame is dented (but safe), we will also give that to a close volunteer as opposed to selling it and running into an liability/insurance issue later. Shipping complete bikes is expensive and time consuming, so we don't do it -- just parts on ebay.
We have learned to raise prices slowly if we feel they are low, this 'boiling frog' approach has helped us avoid alienation of our volunteers.
Currently on average Road Bikes (high demand, low supply) range from $100-$200. Cruisers only sell around burning man time, and they are priced slighly lower than road bikes. Mountain bikes range $50-$120. That being said we have a nice trek road bike currently that we built up with a complete brand new 105 set and we are selling it for $500.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.bicyclecollective.org
The mission of the Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.
On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 10:25 AM, Marissa Pherson marissapherson@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
I'm new to the list, from Columbus, IN's community bike co-op. We just launched a new website: www.bikeco-op.org
I come to you seeking any policies and procedures you may have in place at your local bike collective regarding determining the value of a bicycle. We have an Earn-a-Bike program and a shop bike program and would like to standardize the values.
At the moment, we don't have a checklist or chart to determine how much time an Earn-a-Biker needs to work to earn a donated Raleigh hybrid, or how much to suggest a donor provide for us to have that same Raleigh hybrid fixed up and ready to go.
Before re-inventing the wheel, I wanted to come to you all and get some input or some info on what is used elsewhere to keep bike values somewhat consistent.
Thanks in advance!
Marissa Pherson
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